Davidson resident recounts tale of flight that ended in Hudson River
Published 12:00 am Tuesday, December 1, 2009
By Steve Huffman
shuffman@salisburypost.com
Keith Anthony was looking out the window of US Airways Flight 1549 the afternoon of Jan. 15 when he noticed a blur of birds fly into the engine.
The plane was climbing over Manhattan at about 200 mph. Anthony, 39, a resident of Davidson, was seated in Row 7, Seat F, just in front of the right wing.
He was returning to North Carolina after a business trip to New York.
Even after the birds (Canada geese, apparently) were sucked into the engine and Anthony heard a “big bang,” he wasn’t especially concerned.
Anthony said he has a friend who works for Pratt & Whitney, the company that builds jet engines, and said he knew they are designed to withstand such events.
“Don’t worry,” Anthony reassured his next-seat passenger. “We’re going to be fine.”
He said even after the plane began to bank, he simply assumed it was returning to the airport for a landing that would be more or less routine.
The end result was far different. The flight crash-landed in the Hudson River in Manhattan.
The incident played out on national television and made a hero out of Capt. Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, the pilot who deftly handled the plane through the emergency.
On Sunday night, Anthony and many of his Flight 1549 companions will be featured on “60 Minutes.” A reunion of the flight’s Charlotte-area passengers was held in a Charlotte hotel Monday.
Katie Couric was on hand, as was Sullenberger. His first national interview since the incident will be aired Sunday night.
Anthony said he wasn’t interviewed for the piece, but said the entire gathering was filmed by CBS and parts of it will likely be aired along with the Sullenberger interview.
Also on Sunday, Anthony will be flying to New York for a Monday appearance on “The Early Show” along with about 20 of the 150 passengers of Flight 1549.
Anthony is a bank consultant for North Highland, a company that does management and technology consulting. He said he’s still amazed at how well the crashing landing played out.
“If you could script a perfect plane crash, this was it,” he said. “You didn’t have just one thing go right, you had about a dozen things go right.
“If any one of those things hadn’t gone right, the end result could have been far different.”
Anthony’s aunt is Salisbury’s Elizabeth Smith. Anthony and his wife, Karen, have three children: Elizabeth, 8, Jane, 6, and Henry, 2.
Asked if his children thought he was a celebrity for being aboard Flight 1549, Anthony laughed and said, “They may after Sunday night.”
He said Sullenberger, who turned 58 on Friday, deserves the accolades bestowed upon him.
“He’s quite the hero,” Anthony said. “He’s quite the public figure.”
Anthony said he hadn’t met Sullenberger until Monday’s gathering in Charlotte. He said he shook the pilot’s hand and thanked him, then presented Sullenberger cards his daughters had created for him and letters he and his wife had written him.
Anthony also gave the pilot a picture of him and his family.
“His wife said this has been something that instantly changed his life,” Anthony said. “She said it has been unbelievable.”
Anthony said that on the day of the crash, even after Sullenberger announced over the jet’s speakers that passengers should, “Brace for impact,” he had no idea they were about to land in the Hudson.
“He never once said, ‘We’re going to crash’ or anything along those lines,” Anthony said. “He did nothing that would have created a panic.”
Anthony said he thought the plane was going to make a slightly-harder-than-usual landing at the airport. He said he put his head between his legs and raised up once for a look around, then repeated the process.
Only on the second look did he realize the plane ó operating with no engines ó was about to set down in the river.
“I said, ‘Oh, my God!’ ” Anthony said.
Then he paused and chuckled before admitting: “Actually, I probably said something a little stronger than that.”
Anthony said it has been estimated that the plane hit the water at 170 mph, a speed that’s difficult to comprehend from film footage that makes the landing appear almost smooth.
He said the jolt was fairly severe.
Anthony evacuated the plane, climbing onto its right wing. The water temperature was between 33 and 36 degrees, and the air temperature was about 20 degrees.
Anthony said he looked up to see a ferry that “seemed so far away.”
He said he and several other passengers managed to pull around a raft and began climbing aboard.
“I’m totally expecting (the plane) to sink at any moment,” Anthony said. “I fully expected it to go under. Jets are not designed to stay afloat.”
He said when the first ferry arrived, its captain was trying to jockey the boat into position without striking the plane as it floated down the Hudson.
When he finally got the ferry in a decent position, a rope net was thrown over the side of the ferry. Anthony was one of the first to climb up. Once aboard the ferry, he helped the other passengers make the climb.
“I stayed at the top and helped pull everybody up,” he said. “By then, other boats had arrived.”
Anthony said someone asked how long he and the others had been on the plane’s wings before help arrived. He said he estimated the time at 15 to 30 minutes.
Anthony was then told that the first ferry actually arrived in three-and-a-half minutes.
“I guess it’s just the stress reaction,” Anthony said of the discrepancy between the time that elapsed and how long he thought it took. “Most people were in shock. We were dazed.”
He said his employer sent a car to pick him up. Anthony didn’t arrive home until about 6:30 the next morning.
He said he remained calm as he gave his wife and children a hug, then slept for a couple of hours. Only after awakening and seeing a newspaper account of what he’d been through did Anthony’s nerves kick in.
“It hit me like a ton of bricks,” he said. “I got really, really emotional with all that stress coming out.”
Anthony said that when he watches replays of the landing, his reaction is “more amazement.”
“What that pilot did is really remarkable,” he said.
Anthony said he’s flown about 500 times over the past 15 years. This was the first time he’s ever been involved in anything resembling a crash landing.
Anthony said he flew again shortly after the crash. He said US Airways offered passengers of Flight 1549 free tickets, so he flew his mother down from Boston, then returned with her.
Anthony was born in North Wilkesboro, but was raised in Millis, Mass., a small town just outside of Boston.
He met his wife in Greensboro and the couple have lived in the Davidson area about 12 years.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” Anthony said of being aboard a plane that ditched in the Hudson.
“At least I hope it is.”